Which would be the better park day in May?

[disneymom0104]

We can juggle our trip to start May 10 (Mother's Day, last day of Tink half marathon) and end on Thursday May 14, with one grad night on May 13. Or, we can start our trip May 11 and end May 15, with 2 grad nights, but no marathon crowds. May 15 also is the first day of the Democratic Party Conference. So basically would we rather do May 10 (Sunday) or May 15 (Friday)?

ETA- Or we could skip one day in the middle of the week (like the 13) and go to the parks on the 10th and 15th. Last time we were there was early Dec. 2012 and they were doing Candlelight processionals each night. We managed the crowds just fine- I don't what to expect in May.

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

I can only compare the Friday before Mother's Day with Mother's Day... As I've done both twice. And Mother's Day was a pretty nice day, busy but not insane.

 

[tarheelalum]

I say avoid the grad nights like the plague. Nothing worse then spending your vacation around obnoxious children who, some of which, are under the influence of various substances. I'm not sure if your dates apply but in general you should always consider the ride closures, if there are any during your potential dates.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I've dealt with a couple May grad night crowds, but never marathon crowds. From the accounts I've seen here on the DIS marathon days are very busy in the parks. Grad nights meant DL started seeing grads arrive around noon, they are very noticeable by dinner and thick by 10pm. Their party is in DCA and starts at 11pm so hoping over to DCA for the later part of the day is great since the grads don't really bother with it as that's where their private party is. Do avoid the DL thrill rides (space, Indy) on those nights. If I was choosing between Grad nite vs marathon day I'd hit up the grad nite. (Not a clue about Dem convention impact, though I have seen instances where convention goers can purchase discounted evening tickets to the parks fyi.)

A previous poster mentioned substance abuse problems amongst the grads & I must comment to say I never saw that. Rowdy, excited & some bad language yes, but no substance problems. Disney has extremely strict rules regarding drugs, alcohol & grad nites that basically boil down to if you bring it in we blacklist your school from grad nites. And that's not an idle threat. If I ever witnessed that I would report it to the nearest CM, there is zero tolerance for it.

 

[Butterfly123]

On our last trip we had three out of four days as grad nights. They were dates we couldn't change. We saw no substance abuse issues...in fact because we planned around them, avoiding the "thrill" rides later in the day, we had no problems with the kids at all.

Disneyland gets lots of middle school trips, band trips, etc. as the end of the school year approaches. Large groups of kids can be hard to avoid, especially in May and June!

 

[Elk Grove Chris]

I also hit a Grad Nite last May (later in the month) during some solo time at the parks. No issues whatsoever other than a few more people in the parks.

I have two teenagers who are angels, so I am pretty critical of the way others of their age behave in public. I saw or heard nothing that raised my eyebrows. Same as the year before when as a family we hit a grad night in June.